Heritage calls strong auction

An 1808 quarter eagle headed results of Heritage Auction Galleries? $19.3 million Signature sale at the Long Beach Expo.

Sale catalogers said about 35-40 of the 1808 quarter eagles are believed to survive from an original mintage of 2,710. This example, graded MS-61 by Numismatic Guaranty Corp., sold for $163,875.

A 1794 silver dollar graded VF-30 by Professional Coin Grading Service brought $161,000, the same price bid for a colorfully toned 1891-O specimen quarter, one of just two known, this one graded NGC MS-65.

Also bringing $149,500 was a proof 1846 Seated Liberty dollar. It was graded PCGS Proof-65.

Two gold $10s also came in at $149,500 each: a proof 1899 in NGC Proof-68* Ultra Cameo and a 1907 Indian with wire rim in NGC MS-67.

Half cents from the Colonel Steven Ellsworth collection were led by a 1796 with pole example graded PCGS AU-55. ?The 1796 half cent is the classic rarity of the denomination from a mintage of just 1,390 coins,? sale catalogers wrote. This one brought $138,000.

Another 1794 silver dollar, a PCGS VG-10 piece, fetched $115,000.

Early quarters included a proof 1820 Bust quarter in NGC Proof-64. It was described as having ?golden-brown, jade-green, honey-gold, and lilac-gray toning? by sale catalogers. It realized $97,750.

Joining the 1820 quarter at that $97,750 price level was an 1866-S Seated Liberty quarter graded PCGS MS-66. Catalogers noted that the coin is in a first-generation PCGS holder and no finer example has been seen by PCGS in the 20 or so years since this piece was encapsulated.

Heritage also conducted an auction of world coins at the Long Beach Expo, which realized a total of $7,218,850. A world coin Final Session sale added about $208,560 to Heritage?s activity at the show.

For more prices realized, visit the Coins section of Web site www.ha.com.

The firm?s next floor auction will be held June 26-29 in conjunction with the Florida United Numismatists? Summer FUN show in West Palm Beach, Fla. Heritage will also conduct a U.S. coin sale at the American Numismatic Association?s 2008 World?s Fair of Money in late July and early August, with consignment deadline of June 19.

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Letters to the Editor (August 28, 2018) Speculator returns shouldn’t be allowed
Just read your article about people returning the 50th Anniversary Reverse Proof sets to the Mint because they were not a sellout. This really gets me mad. These people are not collectors. They are not buying the coins because they like them. They are buying the coins to flip them and ...